Vehicle registration plates of Guam explained

The U.S. unincorporated territory of Guam first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1916.

In 1956, the United States, Canada, and Mexico came to an agreement with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, the Automobile Manufacturers Association and the National Safety Council that standardized the size for license plates for vehicles (except those for motorcycles) at 6inches in height by 12inches in width, with standardized mounting holes.^[1] Guam adopted these standards in 1960.

Passenger baseplates

1947 to 1964

Image	Dates issued	Design	Serial format	Serials issued	Notes
	1947	Hand-stenciled black on white; "GUAM" at left and "1947" at right	1234	1 to approximately 2200
	1948	Embossed black on golden yellow with border line; "GUAM" at left and "1948" at right	1234	1 to approximately 4200	First embossed plate.
	1949	Embossed white on blue with border line; "GUAM" at left and "1949" at right	1234	1 to approximately 8500
		Embossed orange on black with border line; "GUAM" at left and "1950" at right	1234	1 to approximately 9900	Revalidated for 1951 with silver tabs.
	1952–54	Embossed black on orange with border line; "GUAM" at left and "1952" at right	12345	1 to approximately 13800	Revalidated for 1953 with silver tabs, and for 1954 with black tabs.
	1955–56	Embossed white on dark green with border line; "GUAM" at left and "1955" at right	12345	1 to approximately 14000	Revalidated for 1956 with black tabs.
	1957–58	Embossed black on yellow with border line; "GUAM" at left and "1957" at right	12-345	1 to approximately 14-800	Revalidated for 1958 with black tabs.
	1959	Embossed white on dark green with border line; "GUAM" at left and "1959" at right	12-345	1 to approximately 13-900
	1960	Embossed black on white with border line; "19 GUAM 60" at bottom	12-345	1 to approximately 14-000	First 6" x 12" plate.
	1961	Embossed white on black with border line; "19 GUAM 61" at bottom	12-345	1 to approximately 14-100
	1962	Embossed black on orange with border line; "19 GUAM 62" at bottom	12-345	1 to approximately 17-900
	1963	Embossed black on white with border line; "19 GUAM 63" at bottom	12-345	1 to approximately 20-000
	1964	Embossed white on blue with border line; "19 GUAM 64" at bottom	12345	1 to approximately 17500

1965 to present

Since 1996, all passenger plates have featured a round mounting hole at the top right and horizontal slots in the other three corners, as with plates of Hawaii and the Northern Marianas.

Image	Dates issued	Design	Slogan	Serial format	Serials issued	Notes
	1965–69	Embossed blue on white with border line	Hafa Adai	12345	1 to approximately 38800
	1970–73	Embossed golden yellow on dark green with border line; latte stone graphics at left and right	America's Day Begins In Guam USA	12345	1 to approximately 55200
	1974–77	Embossed black on reflective white with border line; "74" at bottom left	Hafa Adai	12-345	1 to approximately 57-500
	1977–78			12345	57501 to approximately 61000
	1978–80	As above, but without "74"			61001 to approximately 72500
	1980–82	As above, but with shorter dies			72501 to approximately 83500
	1983–86	Embossed blue on reflective white with border line; ox cart graphic at bottom left	Hub of the Pacific	12345	1 to approximately 87000
	1986–93	Embossed dark green on reflective white; graphic in center featuring pale green map and two green latte stones	Hafa Adai	ABC 123	AAA 001 to approximately AFN 999
	1994 – February 26, 2009	Embossed black on reflective white; gold map graphic in center	Tano Y Chamorro[2]	Coded by municipality: ABC1234 (variable number of digits following letters) ABC123A (following exhaustion of above format)	Varies by village: ABC 1 to ABC9999 ABC001A to present
	February 27, 2009[3]  – present	Embossed black on reflective white; graphic in center featuring gray latte stone and three red bougainvillea flowers	Tano Y Chamorro	Coded by municipality: AB 1234

Coding

Passenger, 1994

On the 1994 base, the letters of passenger plate serials indicated the village of issuance. These three-letter codes were displayed in a smaller font size than was the numerical portion of the plate serial.

Village	Code
Agana	AGA
Agat	AGT
Agana Heights	AHT
Asan-Maina	ASA
Barrigada	BAR
Chalan Pago	CHP
Dededo	DED
Inarajan	INA
Maite	MAI
Mangilao	MAN
Merizo	MER
Mongmong	MNG
Ordot	ORD
Piti	PIT
Sinajana	SNJ
Santa Rita	STR
Talofofo	TAL
Tamuning	TAM
Toto	TOT
Tumon	TUM
Umatac	UMA
Yigo	YIG
Yona	YON

On the 2009 base, the letters of passenger plate serials again indicate the village of issuance. These two-letter codes are displayed in the same font size as is the numerical portion of the plate serial.

Village	Code
Agat	AT
Asan-Maina	AN
Barrigada	BR
Dededo	DE
Hagåtña	HG
Inarajan	IN
Mangilao	MN
Merizo	ME
Ordot	OR
Piti	PT
Talofofo	TL
Toto	TO
Tumon	TU
Tamuning	TM
Umatac	UM
Yigo	YG
Yona	YN

Non-passenger

On the 1994 base, commercial truck plates were coded by location of issuance, but using a different geographical coding system than for passenger plates. These codes were based on more specific geographical areas or geographical features, rather than political jurisdictions.

Bus, dealer, taxi, and trailer plates were coded only by type, not location of issuance.

Image	Type	Serial format	Code	Location
	Commercial Truck	1234ABC	FAP	Fort Apugan (Hagåtña)
			FSO	Fort Soledad, Umatac
			MLL	Mount Lamlam
			PDE	Plaza de España (Hagåtña)
			TFL	Talofofo Falls, Talofofo
			TLP	Two Lovers Point (Tumon)
	Bus	BUS 123	BUS	all
	Dealer	DLR 123	DLR
	Government of Guam	1234	none
	Taxi	TXI 123	TXI
	Trailer	1234	TRL

Optional plates

Image	Type	First issued	Design	Serial format	Notes
	Veteran—United States Air Force		Blue on reflective white with full-color graphics of the flag of the United States and the flag of Guam	AF 123
	Veteran—United States Navy		Blue on reflective white with full-color graphics of the flag of the United States and the flag of Guam	N 123

Other plates

Image	Type	First issued	Design	Slogan	Serial format	Notes
	Consular	1986	As 1986–93 passenger base	Hafa Adai
	Naval Base	1960	White on yellow		1234

External links

• Plateshack.com – Guam Y2K

Notes and References

1. Garrish . Christopher . October 2016 . Reconsidering the Standard Plate Size . Plates . . 62 . 5.
2. Web site: » Origin of CHamoru as an Ethnic Identifier. 5 October 2009 .
3. http://guam.mvarietynews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4762:drt-launches-new-license-plates-&catid=1:guam-local-news&Itemid=2 "DRT launches new license plates"